This open-source fasting app really helped me hit my health targets

I used to be by no means an athletic child, and that continued by most of my 20s. That’s, till I made a decision to vary issues up, drop some weight, and focus extra on my well being. Intermittent fasting was a giant a part of that journey, and I’ve been following it for a number of years now. Actually, it’s the one fixed in my wellness journey that has really caught with me. A lot as I’ve dabbled with exercise plans, picked up the greatest health trackers, tracked macros with obsessive element, and even experimented with sleep optimization, it’s the 16:8 fasting strategy that has been essentially the most sustainable factor I’ve completed for my well being. Sarcastically, what hasn’t been sustainable is discovering a fasting app that doesn’t finally go down the standard rabbit gap of adverts and subscriptions. Belief me, I’ve tried all of them.

Whereas most fasting and health apps begin out useful, the core expertise in a short time will get buried underneath microtransactions and primary options locked behind paywalls. Interested by what fasting zone you’re in? You’d higher be ready to pony up some money. All the things from customized fasting home windows to easy insights that was once free is all of a sudden a premium characteristic. And don’t get me began on the notification spam each time I open the app. Look, I simply want a glorified stopwatch. I don’t want your app to assist a full-fledged wellness program and the accompanying charges. So I did what any self-respecting tech fanatic would do: I checked out open-source options to the issue.

That’s how I discovered FastTrack, a minimal, open-source, self-hosted, and slightly wonderful fasting tracker on GitHub. What it lacks in flash, it makes up for in substance. Whereas it may not have devoted apps on the Play Retailer or gamification parts to maintain you on monitor, it has all of the options you really need. That simplicity is strictly why I’ve caught with all of it this time, and why you would possibly too.

After I first began intermittent fasting, I used to be already deep into my health journey. Between monitoring exercises, counting energy, and making an attempt to drop some weight with out dropping an excessive amount of muscle mass, intermittent fasting was a vital a part of the equation. However I wanted this completed with out pointless friction. Only a timer and a technique to examine how lengthy I’d fasted, with out being given recommendation about reaching a zen way of thinking.

FastTrack, however, is, for essentially the most half, only a easy timer app. It opens shortly within the browser as a bookmark and offers me a single button to begin or cease a quick. Yay for simplicity. The onboarding course of is simply as easy, with no wizards or welcome screens speaking me by the advantages of fasting. I already know what I’m moving into. Simply make an account, log in, faucet a button, and get on together with your day. Truthfully, I want extra apps labored like that.

This simplicity impacted me in additional methods than one. With out the friction of fixed upselling, notifications, or convoluted interfaces, I began monitoring extra persistently. It’s the identical strategy severe health fanatics take. A spreadsheet with reps, or a notepad, when you’re old-school, wins out over a flashy app each single time. That lack of friction helped me attain, and even exceed, my each day targets as a result of it’s straightforward to lose monitor of time if you’re not being bombarded by hourly notifications aimed toward cheering you on. In my case, they only gave me anxiousness over how a lot time was nonetheless left in my quick. Over the previous few months, I haven’t missed a single quick, and my feeding home windows have change into tighter and extra constant. This has translated immediately into noticeable outcomes. My physique fats proportion is decrease, I’ve extra vitality throughout exercises, and most significantly, I’ve constructed a routine that I keep on with diligently.

For all its simplicity, FastTrack isn’t only a stopwatch with a shiny coat of paint. It maintains a correct log of all my fasts and lets me add feedback, which has helped me spot patterns in my health journey. All information is retained domestically, and I can simply look at once I’m prone to minimize a quick quick or push for longer fasting home windows. It’s been extraordinarily helpful in optimizing my vitamin consumption as nicely. If I’m persistently operating on fumes by the tip of a quick with out important bodily exercise, it’s clear that my calorie consumption is considerably decrease than it ought to be. After significantly heavy exercises, I’d typically eat sooner than deliberate. All of that’s apparent, positive, however having that information readily available helps me see broader patterns and the larger image. Actually, I’d say the data-driven suggestions loop has labored much better for me than any motivation I derived from industrial apps.

As somebody who prefers purpose-built instruments and gadgets, I get a wierd sort of motivation from utilizing one thing that doesn’t attempt to hold nudging me. FastTrack serves no notifications. It simply runs as a software. And due to that, I opened it extra typically and used it extra truthfully. Missing gamification parameters, I had no incentive to spherical off an additional half-hour in my each day quick. Nor was I involved about breaking a streak or unlocking a collectible. I simply stay centered on monitoring my progress, which, for somebody making an attempt to hit particular targets and preserve a coaching plan, is strictly what I would like.

Look, I’m nicely conscious that self-hosted instruments aren’t for everybody. As straightforward as FastTrack is to arrange, the shortage of Play Retailer or App Retailer availability, or a one-click setup, undoubtedly will increase the problem degree. You’ve acquired to hit the command line, set up Docker, after which get it up and operating. You’ve additionally acquired to cope with — shudder — what a localhost is. If you wish to entry it remotely, you’ll need to configure a reverse proxy. However as soon as put in, I haven’t needed to contact it once more. Given the simplistic characteristic set, the app is gentle on sources, so I simply popped it onto my NAS. On the flip facet, as I discussed earlier, there’s no cloud sync or devoted app, so a distant proxy is a necessity if you end up on the transfer typically. That mentioned, it’s simply circumvented by operating a service like Tailscale.

If that seems like lots of work to trace fasts, I’ll be sincere, the preliminary setup is. Particularly when there’s no dearth of apps like Zero on the Play Retailer. However as I delve extra into information possession and cope with subscription fatigue, I’m okay with the one-time effort of organising open-source options. All these different apps include strings hooked up, be it dodgy information retention insurance policies, hidden microtransactions, or fixed advert and notification spam. A few of them merely gained’t work when you deny web entry or need one thing as primary as including private notes to your log. That’s a no-go for me. FastTrack does none of that. It offers me full management over the expertise, in trade for a bit extra effort throughout the setup course of.

Why I’m sticking with FastTrack

I’ve tried all the favored fasting apps over time. Most had stunning, well-polished interfaces in comparison with FastTrack’s extra utilitarian providing. Others tried to mix fasting with group options, sleep monitoring, or holistic wellness. However none of them helped me construct the sort of consistency I’ve managed over the previous few months with FastTrack. Not as a result of they weren’t succesful, however as a result of all of them tried to do an excessive amount of. FastTrack’s largest power is that it doesn’t attempt to be something aside from what it’s. And on the finish of the day, consistency is all that issues, whether or not you’re focusing in your well being or making an attempt to stay to utilizing an app each day.

FastTrack has additionally given me helpful, distraction-free insights into my routine. I’ve acquired it saved as a shortcut on my house display, permitting it to combine seamlessly into my day with none points. And better of all, it has helped me keep on with my fasting window, which in flip helped me hit the physique composition targets I’d been chasing for over a 12 months.

There are extra handy apps on the market, positive — and the most effective app is the one which works for you. FastTrack is probably not for everybody, however for anybody severe about fasting who’s bored with cluttered experiences, it would simply be the final fasting app you ever want.